[Cob] Question from Bulgaria

[Susan Hagan]

Dear All,
 
Two years ago I began to restore the roof barn and we put a traditional,for here,straw and clay/soil insulation of 10 cm between the tiles and the tongue and groove. The roof is a cathedral roof. All the walls are adobe, stone and cob. 
 
This winter we have noticed that the snow does not remain on the roof as long, or in such volume, as my neighbour's roofs. I have a wood burner in 2 of the 3 areas but then so do the other houses. 
 
In other words I have a warm roof! The snow is melting from the and then freezing again at the edge forming icicles and an ice dam. I have a large overhang on the roof so it will take a lot of of frozen backedup ice to get to the walls and affect them. Still I would like to know if anyone has any advice about how to deal with this problem. 
 
Thanks,
 
Su Hagan


00359(0)895195318 (Bulgarian Mobile)  00359 6128263 (Bulgarian Landline) 

With Thanks. Susan Hagan.


  
> From: coblist-request at deatech.com
> Subject: Coblist Digest, Vol 7, Issue 174
> To: coblist at deatech.com
> Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:00:08 -0700
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Re: Too late for cob this fall? (Shannon Dealy)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:28:00 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Shannon Dealy <dealy at deatech.com>
> Subject: Re: [Cob] Too late for cob this fall?
> To: Rob Hoisington <robh at ccwebster.net>
> Cc: coblist at deatech.com
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0910152043150.11150 at nashapur.deatech.com>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
> 
> On Sun, 11 Oct 2009, Rob Hoisington wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> > project that my family and I are taking our time on, but I'm wondering if I
> > should wait until next spring to begin the cob walls. Will it soon become
> > too cold and wet for me to work slowly on the walls, or is it still possible
> > to work through the fall, keeping it covered? I plan on building a curved,
> > arch roof with old cedar shakes that I have access to. Thanks for any
> > experience or insight you have.
> 
> When I have a project, I build with cob year round in Western, Oregon. 
> Some general rules for building with cob when it's cold and wet:
> 
> - Get some kind of cover over it to keep rain off but allow lots of air
> flow through. Even with lots of air flow, a roof or tarp over the
> building area will keep the walls warmer. While putting your final
> roof up is great, you may get better drying if your South facing roof
> is just a framework covered with a clear tarp or string reinforced
> plastic. Using some kind of clear or translucent roof on the South
> side will allow sun into the building which will warm the walls a bit
> and provide moderate improvement in drying times.
> 
> - Try to avoid applying cob to the wall if it is likely that the wall
> will freeze before the wall has achieved the equivalent of about one
> or two days of summer drying. I realize this is a bit nebulous, but if
> the wall freezes with full water content in the cob it will puff up
> like pop corn and you will need to pull off that section of cob and
> apply again once it's warmer.
> 
> NOTE: The issue is the wall freezing. If the day time temperature is
> 40 degrees and the over night low is going to drop to 32 degrees (or
> even a fair bit lower), it is unlikely the wall will freeze due to it's
> large thermal mass.
> 
> - Determine which direction the winds generally come from at your
> building site and first start building the walls which would receive
> the least air flow once the structure is complete. Your goal should be
> to maximize air flow through the building as much as possible
> throughout the building process. The last wall or section of wall
> completed should be the one which blocks the most wind.
> 
> - During colder/wetter periods, you may only be able to add cob to the
> wall once a week.
> 
> - Cob can be mixed and stored wrapped in a waterproof tarp for later
> application if you find the walls are too wet to add additional cob.
> It doesn't matter if the wet stored cob freezes.
> 
> It will take some experience for you to apply the above, but cob is very 
> forgiving, so just keep trying.
> 
> Shannon C. Dealy | DeaTech Research Inc.
> dealy at deatech.com | - Custom Software Development -
> Phone: (800) 467-5820 | - Natural Building Instruction -
> or: (541) 929-4089 | www.deatech.com
> 
> 
> 
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> End of Coblist Digest, Vol 7, Issue 174
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